Moderator's Report

SUMMARY
A clean start for everyone (except for Dean who managed a very nice pirouette all on his own) which meant there was nothing of note in the red zone. Tommie led from the start and was never headed, claiming the win and fastest lap in the process. A very impressive performance. Clive managed to hang on to second place after swapping positions a couple of times with Tim Muttram in their very evenly matched Brabhams. Three people managed to blow their engines, Axel retired early, two drivers crashed on their own and three others perished in a pile up. But that still left ten points finishers, not bad on such a notoriously demanding circuit.

Server replay time: 0h07m55s

Lap 5 - Chicane - Bob Whitwell, Ronnie Peterson, Jethro Walters and Gregory Taber
Bob clips the straw bales and spins uncontrollably towards Tabac. Jethro is following closely, he manages to avoid Bob but spins then is collected by Ronnie who is in turn hit by Gregory Taber. Jethro, Ronnie and Gregory are all out but Bob manages to continue.

Bob made the initial mistake but tried his best to keep out of the way. His spinning car ended up facing the wrong way so he turned the wheel left and rolled backwards into the bales, there was nothing more Bob could have done.

Jethro, Ronnie and Gregory were just unlucky. It is very difficult to negotiate around wreckage on this very fast and narrow part of the track. Yellow flags are not shown on server replays so it is not possible to check if there was any warning shown to the drivers. However it is a timely reminder that the yellow flags can be very helpful and if heeded just might give a driver the extra split second he needs to avoid a pile up.

Welcome to Round 6 for the Season 27 Graduates Works Trophy, we're off to the glamour and high life of Monaco!

Circuit de Monaco is a street circuit laid out on the city streets of Monte Carlo and La Condamine around the harbour of the principality of Monaco. It is commonly referred to as "Monte Carlo" because it is largely inside the Monte Carlo neighbourhood of Monaco. A very challenging tight twisty circuit, few opportunities for passing but plenty of chances to hit the scenery. Youâ€™ve heard this before but please take care, especially on Lap 1!

The full time drivers can start to practice as soon as the server is available. Reserve drivers can also join as soon as the server becomes available but must leave the server with 35 minutes of qualifying left, for a total of 5 minutes; this will allow any remaining full timers to join. If there is enough space on the grid, the reserve drivers will be able to rejoin when there are 30 mins of qualifying left.

Moderating The red zone will be fully moderated from the start to the exit of Portier on Lap 1. Other moderation will be on reported incidents only. However any incidents that occur in the red zone that are not reported by the drivers will be reported by the moderator. This will allow all affected drivers the opportunity to present their case before the incident is moderated. This should ensure there are no surprises when the moderator's report is published and hence appeals will be less likely. If you haven't received a PM about an incident before the link below the results table is removed, you can be sure that you will not appear in the moderator's report.

The chassis token system is explained on the Works standings page. Please ensure you choose a chassis that is within your budget, which can be seen by hovering the mouse over your points total in the standings.

Please restrict chat to pit messages including at the end of the race until ALL drivers still racing have crossed the line.

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Driving for Antipasti Racing

Racing is like life, when you get up one more time than you fall, you'll make it through - Alan Kulwicki (1954-1993)

A good buddy of mine is a keen aviation enthusiast and pilot. He likens his health to a four-engined B-17 bomber. When suffering, he is heard to say, 'Engines one, two and three are burnt out and number four just started to belch blue smoke.' That about describes my state of health today, too, as I attempt to recover from a nasty cold. I'll be for today's Monaco round if only to pick up the start tokens.

Thanks for the heads-up on the start time revision, Jethro. I showed up in iGOR at my usual time and saw...nothing. That explains it. Over here in North America, we're still on DST for another two weeks.

17:51.21 <Dean_0_Pizza_Burner> how it go?17:54.06 <DLogan> aside from my spin before crosing the start line? I was far enough back in the grid (expected) that I started on the hairpin, could only start when others went (couldn't see flag), and was over-exuberant with my shift to second17:54.23 <DLogan> ater that it just went downhill17:54.30 <Dean_0_Pizza_Burner> 17:54.49 <DLogan> honda hates cold tires17:55.32 <DLogan> couple more clumps into armco and i think i broke a drive shaft17:55.58 <DLogan> wouldn't go straight17:56.30 <Dean_0_Pizza_Burner> whale had bent flipper?17:56.56 <DLogan> limp around finish another lap doing rapid mental math to figure chances of actually getting to 50% distance at 2:05 a lap17:57.17 <DLogan> while frantically scrambling out of anyone's way17:57.23 <Dean_0_Pizza_Burner> heh17:58.36 <DLogan> and looped it into casino, made it a real tricycle, so gnite Irene18:00.02 <DLogan> stupid monaco

Well what can I say Jethro and Greg.....................commiserations and sometimes you just have to laugh.

That's about all we could do. I wish the flagman had given me some warning. I was wide open into the chicane. I missed Bob, I couldn't miss Ray. I wish you had sat still but then Jethro likely would have collected me. It's a shame I couldn't get a good qualifying run. I might have got to miss all that excitement. I botched the start too. I couldn't tell which engine was mine with all those roaring Repcos

Take care guys.

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You know that some people are differentNow ain't that a crying shameNow wouldn't it be a real drag if we were all the same

Hey Ho...there I was, sitting in 9th when the crash ahead turned it into 6th... then I passed Iestyn at the side of the road and it was 5th... tried hard to concentrate, and for a change succeeded, only for the engine gremlins to take it away from me on Lap 18. Unless anyone is crawling round that's a safe but disappointing 9th....

Lots of business travels in next few weeks, so not sure when I will see you all next.

Yeah sorry for the drama, is it any consolation that it was the only time I didn't get it right through there?! Course not, only good thing is that it wasn't L1. It was a genuine mistake but you shouldn't really have to put up with that at this level, I'm ashamed to have caused the retirements of 3 other drivers, especially when I was able to continue without any apparent damage.

I did manage to carry on after that, a pretty lonely race most of the time in 4th. At times I was holding the gap ahead to Tim but couldn't catch him and in the final few laps backed off a bit, but it wasn't enough and the engine blew just before the tunnel on the penultimate lap...gutted. I thought the engine was fine, temperature totally okay and didn't think I was revving too much, as there isn't much point in the torque beast. I did do one speed shift that I can remember, perhaps that was all it took.

First get well soon Doni, and a shame you couldn't collect some tokens...

Didn't look forward to Monaco, a downer track for me and hard to get around with my 270degree wheel (can't use steering hack with 100% linearity I think, feels wrong) and 10:1 strg ratio...so chose the BRM, in testing it didn't went that bad, but still off the pace compared to the faster guys, and getting tight real soon burning LF tire...

Qualified midpack in a messy session in which it was hard to get a reasonable lap, and started real easy. Early laps was running 10th, behind Arf with Andy close behind. Settled down but made a few mistakes after 10 laps touching armco and wall. With all the attrition I was suddenly 6th and after Arf had to retire 5th. I had no pressure from behind and it was just matter to try to finish. Tommie lapped me in the last 10 laps or so and did inherit 4th when Bob blew up...

A huge problem for me is the chicane after the Tunnel. At some point in 36FPS races I lose my concentration there, hard to explain, like blacking out, flickering. It was a miracle I made it through there 33 times. Not sure if it is 36FPS + LCD monitor +Tunnel, or my eyesight, maybe both. Also for some reason had in my mind 38 laps and also still had a lot of fuel left...I wonder if there are others having probs out of the Tunnel with their focus, like your eyesight is shutting down for a moment...

Anyway, congrats Tommie for a great win, dominant, and Clive and Tim for a great race and result as well. A lot of tough luck for many, but still a great job by all finishers and classifiers. In particular Andy with his 17th consecutive finish I think. Commiserations to all retirements, very tough luck for some...

Might enjoy this track better with a better wheel with more reach, and arguably 60FPS

« Last Edit: October 27, 2014, 08:52:00 PM +0000 by Robert Fleurke »

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Driving for Antipasti Racing

Racing is like life, when you get up one more time than you fall, you'll make it through - Alan Kulwicki (1954-1993)

Thanks Axel, sorry to hear...though in a way it's good to hear I'm not the only one Wonder eyestrain damages your eyesight? Maybe it's just my mind but suspecting my eyesights is worse than it used to be...but I passed the 40s eh?

Also hoping UKGPL will make a switch to 60FPS, we need to include it in the S27 mid-season feedback topic, I do expect a majority to vote in favour of it. Still on a P4 machine and can run 60FPS at most tracks...

Would be a step forward IMO

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Driving for Antipasti Racing

Racing is like life, when you get up one more time than you fall, you'll make it through - Alan Kulwicki (1954-1993)